Clutch device.



No. 806,577: PATENTED DEC. 5, 1905. T; L. & T. J. STURTEVANTL CLUTCHDEVICE. APPLIOATION FILED JAN. 25, 1905.

"Z I P I jzyazzionst 57 444 unirnn" STATES PATENT OFFICE.

THOMAS LEGGETT STURTEVANT, OF QUINCY, AND THOMAS JOSEPH STURTEVANT, orWELLESLEY, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNORS TO STURTEVANT MILL COMPANY,

RATION OF MAINE.

OF PORTLAND, MAINE, A CORPO- CLUTCH DEVI-CE.

Patented Dec. 5, 1905.

Original application filed December 10, 1904, Serial No. 236,360.Divided and this application filed January 25, 1905, Serial 110.242.702-

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, THOMAS Lneon'rr STURTEVANT, residing at Quincy, andTHOMAS. JOSEPH STURTEVANT, residing at Wellesley,in the county ofNorfolk and State of Massachu-- clutch device more especially intendedfor use'in a variable-speed mechanism by which power maybe transmittedfrom a motor or, driving part to a shaft or part to be driven and inwhich the changes from low speed to high speed, and vice versa, of thedriven shaft or part will be automatically effected so that if theresistance or load on the driven part be increased beyond a certainpredetermined point relative to the speed of rotation of thedriving-shaft or the power of the motor when the driven part is runningat high speed a change from high speed to low speed of the driven partwill be automatically effected and when the resistance of the drivenpart is below a certain predetermined limit relative to the speed ofrotation of the driving part or power of the motor'a change from lowspeed to high speed of the driven part will likewise be automaticallyeffected.

The mechanism hereinafter described is similar in operation to thepower-transmitting mechanism covered by our United States Patent N 0.766,551, granted August 2, 1904, and provides a somewhat simpler, andfor some purposes a more efficient, mechanism than that of our saidpatent for accomplishing Similar results.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is an elevation, partly insection, of a mechanism embodying the present invention. Fig.

2 is an end view of the same looking from theright of Fig. 1. Fig, 3 isa detail section of the same on line3 3, Fig. 1, looking in thedirection of the arrows adjacent to said line.

Referring to the drawings, 12 denotes'a portion of a motor orpower-shaft having a flange 13 bolted to a similar flange 14 on the hubof a fly-wheel or casing 15, having a rigidly-attached cover-plate 16,secured to or integral I With which is an exteriorly-s'quaredsleeve 17.

On the sleeve 17 is mounted a gear-wheel 18,

qprovided with a grooved sleeve 19, adapted to slide endwise on thesleeve 17 (which is loose on the shaft 26) to permit the gear-wheel 18to be engaged with either of the gears 20 or 21, fast on or connectedwith the driven shaft 22, which may be directly utilized for driving anautomobile, boat, or for other purposes or may be provided with a pulley23 for transmitting power for any desired purpose. The gears 20 and 21will each preferably be connected with the shaft 22 through the medium Yof a silent ratchet or grip device, such as that shown and described inour Patent No.7 66,551, hereinbefore mentioned, and comprisingspring-pressed friction grip-rollers 24, interposed between a hub 25,fast on said shaft, and a ring-gear 20 or 21, as the case may be, thesesilent ratchet or grip devices being reversely arranged in the twogear-wheels, so

that one may be utilized for the forward drive of the motor orpower-shaft 12 and the other for the reverse motion of said shaft or ofthe driving-motor, the sliding gear-wheel 18 being shifted'to properposition in each instance, as by a shifting-arrn 32, for the forward orthe reverse drive, and these silent ratchet or grip devices beingadapted topermit the low-speed gear-wheels or gear-rings 20 and 21toOverrun, and thus be non-operative when the highspeed clutch devicehereinafter described is in operation.

Pinned to the high-speed shaft 26 is a clutch disk or plate 27, withwhich cooperates for the high-speed drive a second clutch disk or plate28, rotating with the hollow fly-wheel or casing 15 and having shouldersengaged by shoulders on centrifugal weights 29, pivotally mounted withinthe said fiy-wheel or casing 15 and normally held in their inner orinoperativepositions by springs 80, interposed between parts of saiddisk or plate 28 and the Y casing or cover-plate 16 of the fly-wheel.The springs30 are located adjacent to the inner wall of the peripheralportion of the casing of said fly-wheel, and the centrifugal weights 29are located within the peripheries of the clutch-disks instead of beingoutside of the peripheries of the clutch-disks, as in the constructionshown by our said Patent N o. 766, 551,and from this it results that theclutchdisks may be extendednearer to the periphery of the clutchfly-wheel than in our former construction, so as to have more purchaseor leverage with awheel of a given size or so as to permit the use of asmaller fly-wheel with an equal clutch power. 7

When the speed of the motor or driving part is sufiicient to cause thecentrifugal weights 29 to swing outward to overcome the stress of thesprings'30, the clutch-disk 28 will be forced into frictional engagementwith the clutch-disk 27 fast on the shaft 26, and thus the rotarymovement of the motor or powershaft and of the fly-wheel will beimparted to said shaft 26 through the said friction clutchdisks, and themotion of said shaft 26 will be transmitted to the driven shaft 22through the high-speed gears 31 and 32, fast on the shafts 26 and 22,respectively. When the load on the driven shaft increases beyond or thespeed or power of the driving-motor decreases below certainpredetermined limits as fixed by the stress or power of the springs 30relative to the centrifugal action of the weights 29, the frictionclutch-disks will be disengaged from each other by the stress of saidsprings, so that the low-speed driving-gear will automatically come intoaction and will continue until the stress of the springs 30 is againovercome by the increased speed of rotation of the fly-wheel 15. Thuschanges from high speed to low speed and vice versa of the driven partor shaft will be automatically and smoothly effected in that theclutch-disks inclosed within the fly-wheel casing may run in oil, sothat there may be more or less slip when the changes take place.

While the high-speed clutch device herein shown comprises only twoclutch-disks, it will be understood that any desired number of clutchdisks or rings may be employedfor example, such as shown in our saidpatentand the details of the invention may be otherwise varied withoutdeparting from the spirit or essence thereof, the particularconstruction or arrangement of the gearing and shafts herein shown anddescribed not being essential to the practical embodiment of ourinvention. Also other forms of centrifugal clutches might be usedinstead of the disk or multipledisk clutch construction.

e do not herein claim the variable-speed power-transmitting mechanism,including the gearing, herein shown and described, as the saidvariable-speed mechanism is embraced by our application, Serial No.236,360, filed December 10, 1904, of which this application isadivision.

Having thus described our invention, we claim and desire to secure byLetters Patent- A power-transmitting mechanism, comprising thecombination with a driving shaft or part 12, and a shaft or part 26 tobe driven, of a centrifugal clutch device comprising a hollow fly-wheel,a clutch-disk connected with said shaft 26, a second clutch-diskrotating with said fly-wheel, centrifugal weights within said fly-wheeland pivoted within the peripheries of said disks and engaging saidsecond clutch-disk, and springs, acting in opposition to said weights,also inclosed within said fly-wheel and located adjacent to the innerwall of the periphery of said fly-wheel.

In testimony whereof we aiiix our signatures in presence of twowitnesses.

THOMAS LEGGETT STUlt'lEVAN'l. THOMAS JOSEPH S'lUlt'lEVAN'll.

Witnesses:

W VVELLEs, L. H. STURTEVANT.

